Cloud-based print management system Wepa is gaining traction in the US and could lead to a sea change in peoples’ expectations for print on demand, along with a substantial reduction in wasted print, writes Laurel Brunner.

New Zealand has extended its temporary ban on Fuji Xerox NZ from accepting new government work in the wake of a $450 million accounting scandal. The move delays a review of the suspension until after this month’s NZ general election.

It could have been the new ink comprised of nanoparticles, or the hi-tech imaging blanket, or any number of mechanical challenges in bringing Nanography to market. But the delay in commissioning the active quality management (AQM) caught Benny Landa by surprise.

A new HP PageWide T240 HD digital press is on its way to Melbourne book printer Lightning Source after its US-based parent signed a multi-million-dollar deal to buy 24 of the advanced presses for its global sites.

For 25 years, Cheque-Mates, part of Lamson Paragon Group, has been a big name in the for-trade mailing sector. Now it’s serving the industry in a new way, with the launch of a national wide-format printing service based out of its offices in Sefton, Sydney, using latex and aqueous printers.

Hard on the heels of Fuji Xerox DMS securing the lucrative printing contract for the same-sex marriage plebiscite, the federal government has handed out a raft of multi-million-dollar contracts and contract extensions to several major print companies.

ASX-listed Pro-Pac Packaging, chaired by former Australia Post CEO Ahmed Fahour, has announced a $177.5 million merger with flexible packager Integrated Packaging. The new entity will have annual sales of $450 million.

After 15 years of planning and development, Benny Landa has shipped his first Nanopress to a customer from the Landa factory at Rehovot, Israel. Confounding critics the father of digital printing again steps into the front line with the first beta press at packaging printer, Graphica Bezalel.

Ascent Partners says its newly launched website will allow printers to buy and sell machinery at a fair market price. “We want this site to be the industry benchmark – the industry’s Car Sales equivalent.”

Early Australian history is being brought to life in limited edition, handcrafted books featured at Australia’s International Contemporary Art Fair in Sydney. “These are works of art,” says James Cryer.

Obtaining Greenguard environmental certification for inks is no mean feat – the criteria are very scientific and rigid. Fujifilm Australia has announced that 14 of its Uvijet UV inks used in wide format printers are now UL Greenguard certified.